Latino Daily News

8 Security-Force Members Charged for Protester’s Death in Venezuela

An officer of Venezuela’s Sebin intelligence service and seven other members of the security forces have been indicted for the Feb. 12 death of an anti-government protester, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said Friday.

Dacosta was part of a group that hived off from a peaceful march by college students and other government opponents and ended up involved in violent disturbances outside the Attorney General’s Office.

Five other Sebin personnel, a soldier and a police officer have been charged as accomplices in Dacosta’s death, Ortega said.

Two other people were fatally shot on Feb. 12, one of them a government supporter.

The events of that day ignited of weeks of protests against the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Violence associated with the political battle has left 41 people dead and hundreds injured.

Fatalities have included both opponents and supporters of the government, bystanders and members of the security forces.

Representatives of the Maduro administration and the opposition met Thursday to lay the basis for a dialogue aimed at resolving the conflict.

The papal nuncio in Venezuela and foreign ministers from three member-states of the Union of South American Nations are accompanying the process.